Status: U Return-Path: Received: from web5205.mail.yahoo.com ([216.115.106.86]) by runyon.mail.mindspring.net (Earthlink Mail Service) with SMTP id tij3dg.u1p.37kbi7f for ; Fri, 15 Jun 2001 00:23:11 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <20010615042310.11958.qmail@web5205.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [204.120.56.1] by web5205.mail.yahoo.com; Thu, 14 Jun 2001 21:23:10 PDT Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 21:23:10 -0700 (PDT) From: MPCgram Subject: MPCGram 365 To: MPCGram@yahoo.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii ============================================== MPC Gram ============================================== Covering the Entire World of Military Numismatics ----------------------------------------------- Series 002-Number 365 Thurski, June 14, 2001 Memphis Thurski As usual, the old saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions proves to be true again. I had planned to have this weeks column done early because departure for Memphis is only one full day away. But as usual, it never happened. So I'm going to cheat a bit. When we were at the Bureau Archives last Fall, we found a couple of letters that may interest you all. These letters all had something to do with military currency that the Bureau was either producing or was contracting with other firms to produce. The letter I copy here was written by the Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, A. W. Hall, to the President of Tudor Press, Mr. Harland A. Wilbur on August 2. 1946. Although no mention is made of MPC, by putting the date, Tudor Press and the revealed information together, it is obvious we are reading about Series 461 MPC. Dear Mr. Wilbur: I have been advised that the recent contract you entered into with this bureau has placed you in an embarrassing position with some of your commercial customers. The purpose of this letter is to give you as much of the background, as is permissible, on a project that is classified "top secret" by the War Department. If you feel that this letter will, to some degree, pacify your customers, you are authorized to allow them to read it. Of all the work we had to perform for the War, Navy and State Departments during the war, none nearly approached the urgency of the one you are now engaged upon. For the first time the War Department set aside army planes for our use in dispatching material and personnel to any point in the United States. It was with the greatest reluctance that we approached you to undertake this work since you were already engaged in the printing of Siamese currency, which is desperately needed by Siam. After failing to procure the services of other commercial printers, we were forced to persuade you to take on the work. This could only be done by setting aside the Siamese currency. After you agreed to take over the work, we forwarded to you on July 26, by special army plane, glass positives and printing inks. The records show that you had to photo-compose and make plates for six separate designs. It was then necessary to print the backs in two colors, allowing an interval sufficient to permit them to dry, and next print four colors on the face. Following the printing you had to prepare the printed work for shipment. Although a period of twenty-four hours is required for shipments to this bureau, we received the first one at 1 P.M. on Monday July 29. This accomplishment we consider to be truly amazing, particularly in view of the fact that the paper had been made only a few hours before it was printed. Since your first delivery on Monday, we have today received an additional shipment of 40,000 sheets. You promised to continue to supply us as nearly 50,000 sheets daily as possible, which will enable us to process the work and make complete delivery of the first order to the War Department before September 1. This projected program exceeds our original expectations by more than a month. We have been informed that the situation is so critical that delivery cannot be completed too soon. I feel certain that when your customers know the full story behind this important project, and what it means to the United States Government to expedite it as much as humanly possible, they will be glad that they made a sacrifice in behalf of their country. When the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of War learn how diligently you are meeting the demands placed upon you they will join me in expressing gratitude and thanks. Very truly yours, ----A. W. Hall And that's a little behind the scenes information on how the Government pushed the contractor to get out the first series of MPC. Notice the reference to sheets which were then numbered, separated, packaged and shipped to the War Department by the BEP. All this happened in time to issue Series 461 on 16 September in European Theater. =============================================== Editorial ---------------------------------------------------- Memphis callling. We arrived without too much difficulty in Memphis. Ian Marshall and I drove together from Fest Center (Port Clinton). The buz on the floor was certainly the Leo May collection sale. The really funny thing was the Leo May did not even know that the collection was sold until he arrived at about 4pm today. By that time the word had spread like wild fire! There will be more news on that latter this weekend. On a different subject. This is a gram that I have been looking forward to for a long time--Gram number 365. This completes the first year of the Gram by the measure of issues. I wish that we had not missed so many days over the past year. I wonder how long we will have to go before we have 365 consecutive days with a Gram. =========================================== Mail Call ----------------------------------------------- Dear Gram, CONGRATULATIONS [To Leo and Fred]! Wish we had bought it! Damn! You know if you snooze youlose though. Would like to hear all the details. Also wish I were coming to Memphis. Mike Dear Gram, durn. would appreciate it if you could forward my 'notes wanted' list below from the leo may collection to whomever bought them, if you can. thanks, marianne Dear M, Grat try! As it turns out, that would not do you any good, but you will still get a chance to get notes from the May collection. More news will be published on that this weekend! Stay tuned. Editor ================================================ Departments --------------------------------------------------- WWII numismatics seminar at ANA Summer Seminar 2001 --------------------------------------------------- Not only does the scholarship fund have an official identity but also has a bank account! Any further donations should be paid to the order of "Military Numismatists Scholarship" and sent to: Military Numismatists c/o Marcus Turner 8103 East US Highway 36 Suite 163 Avon, IN 46123 THE UPDATED LIST OF SCHOLARSHIP BENEFACTORS 3/22/01. These folks have generously provided money or material to finance scholarships to the ANA WWII Numismatics seminar. Your contributions will help promote collecting WWII material and be greatly appreciated. Many donations were received at CPMX and MPCFest. David Amey, Mr. Anonymous Donor, Mike Cummings, Sue and Keith Bauman, Ed B., Doug Bell, Tom Denly, Continental Coin Invensor, Inc., Denly's, Howard Daniel, R. A. Medina, Harold “MPCKid” Kroll, Leo "Paymaster" May, Mrs. R.C. Matherne, Bill McNease, Marv Mericle, Mel and Jeremy Steinberg, Marcus Turner, Larry Ski, Guido, Fred, PK6, Joel Shafer, World Wide Ventures, Pam West, John and Nancy Wilson, Neil Shafer, W. E. Yanchick, Mark Watson, Al Glaser, Phil Goldstein, Rod Hardy, Wesley Hardy, Gary Hicks, Jack Lippincott, Ian Marshall, Kevin Maloy, David Seelye, Nick Schrier, Elmer Smith, Dan Swartz, Tom Warburton, Dick Freyser, Tim Kyzivat ==================================================== Post/Base Exchange (PX/BX/NEX) Dump your dupes! Your classified advertisement for items for sale will be run here for free. Send your ads to the gram. This service is for everyone, most humble dealer or most advanced collector. The point is to make the gram more interesting. Send in a list of items for sale and we will list them here in the gram. In all cases confirm your order via email first. FOR SALE Your items for sale will be listed in the Gram for FREE. Send your listings now. You items for sale support the gram by making it more interesting for everyone! For Sale: series 661 50 cents 5 notes in serial number order CH. UNC $90.00 postpaid insured. Series 681 50 cents 5 notes in serial number order CH.UNC $97.50 postpaid insured. coinman@rochester.rr.com WANTED Collectors may submit lists of items wanted for their collections for listing here. Dealers and collectors who have these items are then encouraged to list them or sale in the above section. This is a trial, if you like it, send your list. =================================================== Staff: publisher and editor: Fred Schwan - fred@papermoneyworld.com; assistant editor - Phil Goldstein IWANTMYMPC@aol.com Tuesday columnist Joe Boling – JoeBoling@aol.com Thurski columnist Larry “Ski” Smulczenski – ski@papermoneyworld.com critic: Harold Kroll - MPCKid@papermoneyworld.com; index manager: Ed Beaman webmaster & technical advisor: Doug Bell - (Wiz): doug@papermoneyworld.com; The Boss: Judy Schwan ===== MPC Gram is published by BNR Press and papermoneyworld.com as a free service to the community of military money collectors. Your suggestions, criticisms, complaints, editorial contributions, letters, and even praise are very welcome. The entire contents including linked illustrations are copyright protected by the publishers. In the case of contributors, the copyright is protected on behalf of the creators. Please send all correspondence regarding the gram to MPCgram@yahoo.com. Thank you very much for your participation. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Spot the hottest trends in music, movies, and more. http://buzz.yahoo.com/